Writer Robert Nepton talks about Battlestar Galactica:origins and more

On Newsarama writer Robert Nopton talks about Battlestar Galactica: Origins #5-8 which will contain the Adama story arc:

• I absolutely tried to make each issue work as an episode. I also tried to mimic the way the series defies expectations -- for example, the ending of Adama Part 1 would make you think Adama Part 2 would go a certain direction, but in Adama Part 2 I actually open up 2 years in the future and then reveal some of things you might expect via looking back. It's sort of like "Unfinished Business" and hopefully I pulled it off. I also have a thread that runs from Adama Part 1 to 4, something to do with Adama's past, which I hope is evocative of the way the series has certain arcs and themes play out.
• My take on Adama is he is a complex, layered, decent, and ultimately imperfect. That’s the key to this show dramatically, no one is perfect, even Adama – he is a hero, but a hero with chinks in his armor – he’s made questionable decisions and he’s made heroic decisions. And like a lot of great leaders and people, he’s terribly ambitious and sometimes his ambition is born out of good will for others and sometimes it’s born out of ego gratification – sometimes they intertwine. He led the Exodus away from New Caprica for his people and for himself. He’s not perfect and that’s what intrigues me so much about him.
• I’ve worked closely with Brandon so our continuity would work perfectly between Season Zero and my Adama arc. He’s a cool guy -- really dedicated to being on point with the canon as I am. I even end my Adama story in Origins #8 with Adama and Tigh heading off toward the Galactica, which picks up hours later in Season Zero #0, so they flow right into each other, something that was great fun for us to weave together. We split up certain things about Adama’s later life – some I handle, some he’s addressing in Zero. Similarly, I asked Joshua Ortega and Eric Nylund to have a cameo reference from the upcoming Cylon War, so fans will read something in Origins and later the name will return in Cylon War in a big way and they’ll be like “Oh, that guy.” So that’s cool for us, and I hope the fans appreciate the effort to make the Dynamite Battlestar comics tie in together in that way.
• My story will begin with Billy “Husker” Adama, a young pilot. The events of my first issue actually reveal some things about Adama that have never been revealed before, things they let me create for his back-story, which I never thought I’d get to do, but it got approved, and that was a really happy day for me, because as I said, I felt I was getting to tell my story but also add to the legend, so that was great. When the Razor Young Adama webisodes were announced, I was a bit nervous because I had pretty much locked in all my issues but after I saw them, I felt like it was all meant to be because my Origins #5 begins before the webisodes and then jumps forward to a scene that literally picks up after the webisodes end, so I really only had to tweak one scene and the webisodes fit in perfectly. At first I must admit, I was shocked that the Razor webisodes revealed that Adama had seen so little action, I figured him for seeing a lot of action in the first Cylon War, but he really didn’t see that much, so again, my expectations of the character were altered, but then I realized how it fit what I was trying to do with him so much better, so again, it just seemed to work perfectly for the story I wanted to tell. Origins #5 and #6 focus on the Cylon Wars and their immediate aftermath post-Armistice, and don’t think just because there was an armistice that the first Cylon War stopped on a dime – it didn’t, and that’s what Origins #5 and especially Origins #6 get into. You will see action on the Galactica and Atlantia. I had elected not to cover Adama’s time on Columbia but as fate would have it, Brandon was going to cover that in Zero, so again, he and I were on the same page without even trying. You’ll learn things about Adama in Origins #7 as well, which moves the story forward to his days as a freighter worker, about his meeting with Tigh and their friendship and about how and when he met Carolanne, his wife, and how their relationship is intertwined with his overwhelming desire to return to the fleet. In many ways, Origins #7 is my favorite, with an older Adama feeling like an outsider to a military that once embraced him, and it’s about his ambition, verging on obsession, to get back what he had lost – to be a Colonial officer again. It was something I wouldn’t have written with any real perspective when I was younger, but now, I’ve lived enough to relate to those types of feelings – that burning desire to reclaim something, even if it’s a misguided desire, so that was really interesting territory and again, I think it deepens our understanding about Adama. Origins #8 takes a bit further and we learn about the Valkyrie and there’s some more surprises and as I said, it leads right into Season Zero and the first mini-series, so you really get a sense of Adama’s entire journey. I hope people are left with a feeling like they know Adama better than they did before.
• Jaycie McGavin, the young pilot Billy Adama is involved with in the Razor webisodes does make a return in Origins #5, that was part of the one scene I changed, so pleased to say you’ll learn more about her. Carolanne is a huge part of Origins #7 and look for Lee and Zak figuring into Origins #7 and #8. I intentionally didn’t deal with Starbuck much, and really didn’t want to for this story, and fortunately once again Brandon was covering that turf in Zero.
• There is a major new character that appears in Origins #5 and #6 that I was allowed to create and plays a big role in the new Battlestar mythos. When fans read it they’ll be like “how can this be” but I promise by the end of Origins #6 it all gets explained and it all works with the canon of the show. I’ll leave you with that tease and say no more.

In addition to mentioning "Cylon War" which is either a seperate series or and other Origins story arc, Nepton also mention a new classic BSG oneshot he is working on:

• am pleased to say I’ll be working with Dynamite again on Battlestar. I’m writing a very cool Classic Battlestar one-shot, which delves into the motivations of the original Baltar, played by the late-great John Colicos. One of the unsolved mysteries of the classic series is why Baltar is a Judas to his people – and why the Cylons embraced him and continued to embrace him, so this one-shot will answer those questions and maybe ask some new questions that have never been asked before. And this story takes place right after the last episode of classic, “Hand of God” so it’s going to be new territory.

I'm very much behind in reading the BSG comics, so it's time to read Seazon Zero's 1st story arc, the Pegasus oneshot and the Baltar arc from Origins.